General Discussion

We'd like to ask folks to attempt to follow a simple procedure for most petitions if it involves in-game things like an animation or information on what you're looking at.

First... roleplay the scene and use the think command.

i.e.Nimrod walks in a room, blood stains on the floor.Nimrod bends, looking at the bloodstains, frowning.Nimrod thinks: Hmmm... it looks like someone is leaking.Nimrod runs a metallic digit through the fluid, analyzing its contents.Nimrod thinks: I wonder how old this blood is?

Allow us a few moments to help you by sending you a pecho that may give you an answer.

If you don't get anything, feel free to petition.

Nimrod Petitions: Dear Admins... I am looking at this blood and wondering how old it may be and whatever else I may discover through inspection. Would you be so kind as to help me?

Maybe also...

Set status examining blood

If you don't get any kind of echo, that means no one is available at that point in time. Feel free to petition again later. Long-standing tradition has always said that an hour between petitions is using good judgement.

We do our best to try to get you before you petition so as to help you stay in character. Please allow us to try to help you in this type of thing.

Of course emergency petitions don't require any rp if you're dying.

The greatest enemy to propaganda or even counter-propaganda is open, unadulterated channels of free opinion.

Red wrote:Hey Nim, are we trying to encourage or discourage people requesting for staff involvement? I hope it doesn't become an unexpected workload!

We always encourage players to try to figure things out themselves if at all possible rather than rely on staff to spoon feed them information. Personally, I enjoy a player who can get by without ever petitioning and keeping things in-character whenever they're online, but sometimes that's just not possible. There are times when you need to have an npc animated and only a petition will do. Some staff members do not listen to thinks and rely purely on petitions, while others thrive on helping you out seamlessly so your thinks turn into knowledge that we can use to better give you information.

There's no 'right' way for our admins to do these things, we embrace all choices and try our best to give you a game you enjoy playing. We do encourage roleplay though, hence our request to have you roleplay and use thinks before petitioning for help with a non-emergency.

If you're one who doesn't want to have your immersion broken, feel free to set your status to something like 'keep it ic' and we'll do our best to make that happen. There are times though, especially now, during Alpha, where keeping it IC just is not possible for us when we're working on a bugged object or something and we're pressed for time.

We want to give you the experience YOU are looking for in this game. You just have to be vocal about what it is you want in your status message. And if you're wanting to keep it all IC, you have to understand that it just may be possible that a staff member might not be listening to your thinks, so it may be some time before you find what you're looking for. For me, that was always okay as a player.

Good question, Red. I hope I answered it for you.

The greatest enemy to propaganda or even counter-propaganda is open, unadulterated channels of free opinion.

Red wrote:Hey Nim, are we trying to encourage or discourage people requesting for staff involvement? I hope it doesn't become an unexpected workload!

We always encourage players to try to figure things out themselves if at all possible rather than rely on staff to spoon feed them information. Personally, I enjoy a player who can get by without ever petitioning and keeping things in-character whenever they're online, but sometimes that's just not possible. There are times when you need to have an npc animated and only a petition will do. Some staff members do not listen to thinks and rely purely on petitions, while others thrive on helping you out seamlessly so your thinks turn into knowledge that we can use to better give you information.

There's no 'right' way for our admins to do these things, we embrace all choices and try our best to give you a game you enjoy playing. We do encourage roleplay though, hence our request to have you roleplay and use thinks before petitioning for help with a non-emergency.

If you're one who doesn't want to have your immersion broken, feel free to set your status to something like 'keep it ic' and we'll do our best to make that happen. There are times though, especially now, during Alpha, where keeping it IC just is not possible for us when we're working on a bugged object or something and we're pressed for time.

We want to give you the experience YOU are looking for in this game. You just have to be vocal about what it is you want in your status message. And if you're wanting to keep it all IC, you have to understand that it just may be possible that a staff member might not be listening to your thinks, so it may be some time before you find what you're looking for. For me, that was always okay as a player.

If I don't think first, will it lower my chances of having my petition answered?

As said elsewhere, I am not comfortable using the think command to re-narrate things that are going on IG or have already been made clear by emotes. I would not be comfortable with, 'think This looks like a blood-stain'.

The only problem with leaving it to emotes is, I'm not sure if there's any kind of fancy all-snoop mode. You have to really be watching people closely for any indications things are going on through IC means. Thinks show up to everyone at all times, up top, though. If you think, I can see it, and I can react to it.

Needless to say though feel free to petition if you don't feel comfortable with doing that. It's all the same to me.

(Morgoth):I had a part in everything.Twice I destroyed the light and twice I failed.I left ruin behind me when I returned.But I also carried ruin with me.She, the mistress of her own lust.

Rivean wrote:If I don't think first, will it lower my chances of having my petition answered?

As said elsewhere, I am not comfortable using the think command to re-narrate things that are going on IG or have already been made clear by emotes. I would not be comfortable with, 'think This looks like a blood-stain'.

Absolutely not. Although we encourage liberal use of the 'think' command, we don't expect, nor want you to replay all your actions from emotes into the think command.

I think it's also scene specific as well. If you're soloing, there's nothing that says you can't have the following think.

think (bending to dip his hand in *blood) I wonder how long this has been here?

instead of:

say (bending to dip his hand in *blood) I wonder how long this has been here?immediately followed by:petition all Hey staff, can I get an echo or some information on how long this blood has been here?

The mods to the think command allow you to use it as an emote that's echoed just to you... and of course, staff.

Of course, if you are with a group of people, you'll want to do the latter, or possibly include a preparatory think prior to the petition. Though it is not required, we encourage it.

What we're mainly encouraging is roleplay prior to a petition which is not an emergency. We also want you to know that often-times we're watching or listening and you might not have to petition.

Apologies for rambling on there, Rivean. Does that answer your question?

The greatest enemy to propaganda or even counter-propaganda is open, unadulterated channels of free opinion.

Fulgrim wrote:The only problem with leaving it to emotes is, I'm not sure if there's any kind of fancy all-snoop mode. You have to really be watching people closely for any indications things are going on through IC means. Thinks show up to everyone at all times, up top, though. If you think, I can see it, and I can react to it.

Needless to say though feel free to petition if you don't feel comfortable with doing that. It's all the same to me.

Fulgrim's point is valid. We're not omniscient, nor do we try to be. We take our cues from you, our beloved players and do the best we can with the tools available. Thankfully there is no 'snoop all' command. That'd drive me nuts.

What we do though, is trust our players to roleplay properly in these situations when you emote and then petition. We're not going to quiz you and ask you what you emoted, or look up the situation in the logs. We're going to work on faith that players are doing their best, just like we are.

The greatest enemy to propaganda or even counter-propaganda is open, unadulterated channels of free opinion.

I'm going to reinforce that "Is so-and-so around?" or "Are any admins around?" while potentially helpful in the short-term if the answer is a positive, if the answer is "No" - someone who logs on later has no way of knowing what you needed or how to help.